The councilmember-led rezoning passed through the land use process without much controversy. Is it a sign of changing attitudes on housing development?
City housing officials and Councilmembers Keith Powers and Erik Bottcher, who represent the Midtown South rezoning area, at a press conference ahead of Thursday’s vote. (Dept. of City Planning)
In the coming years, Midtown could get nearly 10,000 new homes, including over 3,000 affordable units, as the City Council voted to advance the neighborhood’s rezoning Thursday afternoon.
Neighborhood rezonings can be politically contentious, but the Midtown South plan rolled through the City Council by a vote of 43 in favor and zero opposed.
Lawmakers said it’s a sign of changing attitudes on new development, and the right concoction of local support and a struggling market for offices amid a housing shortage.
“This is a rare instance where the Council members brought forward the idea of rezoning this area for housing,” said Councilmember Keith Powers, who represents large portions of the rezoned district, and of East Midtown north of 14th Street.
Often, the city leads applications for neighborhood rezonings and then negotiates with local councilmembers. This time, he and neighboring Manhattan Councilmember Erik Bottcher, “needed to figure out not if we wanted to do it, but exactly how we could,” Powers said.
Midtown South, a rezoning area that stretches from 8th to 5th avenues between 23rd and 41st streets, is dense and filled with a lot of office space, including many buildings that haven’t recovered from pandemic slides in demand.
The rezoning targeted spots that could be prime for office-to-residential conversions, while also making room for a lot more housing thanks to the area’s high density. It will be the largest neighborhood rezoning in two decades, officials said Thursday.
A rendering of the areas targeted by rezoning, which would look to spur new housing where residential development is currently restricted. (Dept. of City Planning)
“We’re trying to attend to the needs of properties that are having a difficult time right now and also bring in new housing for an area that we think will be really appealing for people,” said Powers. “That’s solving two citywide problems.”
The plan also included open space and pedestrianization efforts for some of midtown’s congested streets, as well as reviving a stalled proposal for a dedicated busway across 34th Street, which will link residents and those passing through with some of the city’s largest transit and event hubs near Penn Station.
The harder fight may have been won at the state level in 2023. The rezoning will be the first to make use of new zoning tools New York State gave the city, which lifted a state-imposed cap on residential density and expanded tax incentives for office conversions. It also builds on citywide zoning changes to unlock greater density passed as part of the Council and City Hall’s December agreement on the “City of Yes for Housing” plan.
“This is exactly where we should be building housing. It’s unfathomable that in an area this central with a housing crisis this dire, that if you wanted to build housing, our own rules would not allow it,” said Dan Garodnick, chair of the City Planning Commission.
Garodnick warned that while the plan would make office conversions more viable, they remain a complicated puzzle given the light and air requirements, layout of office buildings, and expenses involved in construction. The Department of City Planning officials said they can’t currently name any projects in the area seeking conversion.
Under current City Council practice, land use changes usually need the sign off of the local member under a practice called member deference, where the Council defers to local representatives on projects in their own districts.
The mayor’s Charter Commission has recently taken aim at some of those practices, which Commission leaders told City Limits can result in the loss of potential housing. But most of the City Council remains opposed to the ballot measures, which voters will weigh in on this November.
It’s why Powers’ and Bottcher’s early support for the plan stood out.
“Under the current dynamic of land use in New York City, the ability to succeed on a significant initiative like this is largely dependent on willing local representatives who are ready to show leadership on housing. We were grateful to have that here,” said Garodnick.
No project is without its critics, but Midtown South’s easier political path could be a sign of warming to housing development in the City Council.
“There’s definitely an attitude that is changing,” said Powers. “We’re seeing more Council members willing to step forward and raise their hand in support of building more housing and addressing citywide needs in their districts.”
He added that the neighborhood’s existing density and strong transit infrastructure could make it less controversial than rezonings in other parts of the city.
The tide may even be turning in community boards, which have been slower to welcome new housing. Manhattan Community Board 5, which covers the heart of Midtown, gave the plan a thumbs up during their review earlier in the review process. Manhattan Community Board 4, which covers Midtown East, disapproved of the plan.
After advancing City of Yes for Housing earlier this year, the Adams administration has also pushed through two neighborhood rezonings, along the Bronx Metro North Station area and along Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.
The city’s Jamaica neighborhood plan passed the City Planning Commission Wednesday and will be next up for the City Council to review. Another plan to zone for more housing density in Long Island City will reach the City Planning Commission in September.
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